Virtual reality (VR) refers to an immersive experience in which a user enters another world/environment that has been digitally created and is available through a headset. I visited Head Games VR last week, and while the person using the headset has the full experience of interacting with a 360 virtual world through headset and hand controls, those “outside” the experience are still able to view what the participant sees on a 2D computer screen. The experience is much richer and has the ability to “trick the brain” with the hardware of the headset.
Mixed reality (MR) is easily confused with augmented reality (AR), as both are hybrid experiences (and it doesn’t help that the Horizon Report [2018] seems to speak of MR and VR as interchangeable terms!). They pull digital overlays into the “real” physical world (that is, if we trust our physical world to be “real”!). I am taking the Foundry’s distinctions between the two because they make the most sense to me: In AR, the digital components are not “anchored” to the real world and thus do not interact with the real world, but in MR, the digital overlay is anchored and does facilitate interactivity.
I am interested in VR for its potential to enhance the student learning experience. The attention gap that Sapp (2015) discusses is one of the major benefits of VR in educational contexts and is discussed in terms of learner engagement. In a study at Cornell (Glaser, 2019), for instance, researchers are finding that academic results may be the same for students learning through VR vs. other simulations (the study is about learning phases of the moon), but students rated their experience as much more engaging when they learned through the VR activity.
On the other hand, an Educause blog (Craig & Georgieva, 2018) forecasts some of the ethical hurdles that still lie ahead for VR. Since immersive VR can “hijack our senses,” emotional burdens on students can be much more intense than other learning experiences. While a benefit of VR can be increased empathy, Craig and Georgieva suggest that we need to “offer advance warnings of the potential emotional impact.” These authors also point out potential to increase harassing behaviors while in a VR environment.
Interestingly, I observed both of these concerns while “trying on” VR at Head Games last week. I took my 6-year-old and 16-year-old along for the ride. Part of the work was acclimation. My 16-year-old and I both explored Richie’s Plank Experience, a world exploration in which the participant takes an elevator to a level that opens up to an open sky and a single board (the plank) that she is supposed to walk out on. I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually standing on a carpeted floor that would not fall out from under me. When I stepped onto the plank, the person helping me suggested that I turn to the right and walk off of the plank. Now, when my stepdaughter went on this same experience to the top floor of the elevator and saw the plank before her, she would absolutely not get off the elevator. We “outside observers” could not convince her that she would not fall to her death. The VR had “hijacked her senses” completely, as well as her associated emotional experiences.
After becoming acclimated to the headset and navigation through the 360 immersion, my stepdaughter tried a job simulation experience in which she was a cook in a kitchen, following prompts to pull various ingredients out of the refrigerator and fulfill customer orders. At one point, she wondered whether she could throw the ingredients, and started throwing steaks and eggs at the “bot” in the experience that was supervising her work. In pushing the boundaries of the game to determine what was possible through VR, she resorted to what is easily categorized as harassing behavior.
It was all in fun in our brief VR exploration, but Craig and Georgieva’s question persists: How can we ensure a safe, equitable, and respectful experience for all? Integrating VR into educational experiences effectively will require careful deliberation, both in terms of academic alignment and in terms of classroom management.
Leave a Reply